Our goal is to be plastic bag free by 2019

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Situated at the base of one of New Zealand’s most beautiful lakes, Wanaka is a dynamic town full of adventurers, creatives and nature-lovers.

History

After the explosion of a facebook thread on the growing concerns of plastic use in our town, local musician Anna van Riel compiled the shared posts and data in a newly formed social media group ‘Plastic Bag Free Wanaka-group’.

Gaining 200 members overnight it became apparent that talking wasn’t enough. So we are creating solutions to stop single-use plastic bags, and generally single-use plastic.

Our Goal

Our goal is to guide Wanaka towards being single-use plastic bag and bottle free by 2019.

This means that collectively, our town works together to eliminate our instinct to grab for a drink, meal, coffee or product that is sold in something we immediately throw away after consuming.

Did you know that we are each responsible for 350 plastic bags on average per year, which we use for 12 minutes before it ends up in a land-fill. Times this by the population of Wanaka, then NZ, and even the planet! If we don’t do something to change, statistics show that by 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish.

Our Actions

After a logo competition held in May 2016, we organised several sewing drives to sew 220 handmade unique bags made by locals with donated fabrics and sold them on pledgeme, together with bottles and cups.

With this initial fund, we purchased 1000 reusable bags to sell in Wanaka to locals and tourists. And we’ll continue our initiatives to phase out plastic in our community and our country.